“We are not miracle workers,” he said. “But we can create conditions where we don’t want your success to be based on luck, but on the system and the intent behind it.”
With Sacramento City Unified School District facing a budget deficit and working to remain solvent through the next two school years, Thomas said SCOE must use both its oversight authority and its “bully pulpit” more effectively.
He criticized districts’ use of one-time COVID-19 relief funds for ongoing costs and called attention to what he sees as bloated administrative expenses.
Thomas also pointed to rising special education costs and questioned the reliance on contracting out services instead of hiring and training staff directly.
In terms of oversight, he said he hopes to strengthen accountability for charter schools as well.
Thomas criticized high-profile charter failures such as Highlands Community Charter School, which he said misspent around $180 million while posting a graduation rate of about 3%. He argued that SCOE could have done more to hold such schools accountable.
He also raised concerns about St. HOPE’s teacher turnover, saying the network lost about 70% of its teaching staff in one year and relies too heavily on Teach for America, bringing in recent graduates with only weeks of training who often leave after two years.
“Why are these Black and brown kids being deprived of quality education?” Thomas asked. “If you want the good charters to thrive, you have to cull the bad ones. I’m not about protecting a system, but the children who go to that school.”
He also criticized a teacher who worked with a far-right organization, the National Right to Work Committee, and went to the Trump-era National Labor Relations Board to decertify the union at St. HOPE. He said those moves put the Black, Latino and other marginalized students at risk.
“If you hate unions enough to put those children under that microscope and put them in danger like that, you have no business education at all,” he said.
Across Sacramento County, Black students face higher absenteeism, suspension and expulsion rates, as well as lower graduation and academic outcomes compared to their peers. Thomas said addressing those disparities requires both structural policy changes and direct support for families.